Bruce Meeting an Old Friend
by RavenWayne
Summary: Story takes place during Batman Begins: Mo This story introduces my OFC: Charita Rocca and introduces her friendship and possible romance with Bruce Wayne. Disclaimer: I don't own Bruce Wayne, Batman, Alfred, or anything that happened in the Nolanverse Batman Movies.


It had been six weeks since Bruce came home from his journey in the Himalayans. The legal ramifications regarding his death was reversed and he was official legally alive. Tomorrow, he had planned to go to Wayne Tower to talk to Mr. Earle and to reveal himself to the world that he was alive; but before he did that, he wanted to let Charita know before she heard it on the news. He knew that Alfred told her about his return but instead of letting her know he had return, he decided to shadow her for a few weeks. It wasn't that he was afraid of seeing her again, but he wanted to get a few things regarding learning about Ra's al Ghul out the way and also he tracked her to see how she was living and if she was happy.

Bruce decided to call Charita first. He knew her cell phone number from Alfred and proceeded to dial.

"Charita Rocca!" she answered cheerfully

"Hey, Charita it's me Bruce."

Charita was astonished. She knew that she would eventually hear from Bruce or even bumped into him but she wasn't prepared. She took a deep breath and answered back.

"Bruce, welcome back. I was wondering when I would hear from you. What's going on?"

"I wanted to know if we can meet." Bruce asked, not sure what her answer would be considering how he left things between them.

"Ok." Hearing his voice took her breath away. She knew that she still loved him but this was also her best friend and she wanted to see him. "When?"

"What are doing for dinner?"

"Nothing, it's Sunday so I usually just go to church and come on and lounge around, since Saturday is my get everything that I wasn't able to do doing the weekday day." She began to see that she was rambling and hit herself in the head. "I'm sorry I'm rambling, I have no plans for dinner. What did you have in mind?"

"How about coming to Wayne Manor? Alfred has been cooking up a storm and we wouldn't mind your company and it will be good to see you again."

"Ok, let me change and I'm on my way."

"Great, see you in a bit and Charita?"

"Yes, Bruce."

"I look forward to seeing you."

"Me too. oh Bruce, I'm bringing someone with me"

"Ok."

They both hung up the phone with a mixture of excitement and anxiety, looking forward to their long-awaited reunion.

Bruce was nervous like a teenager on his first date. He's known Charita his entire life and never had known to be nervous around her but this was different. He abruptly left her and traveled for 7 years without even a postcard to let her know that he was okay. He wasn't sure of her reaction but Alfred assure him that things would be okay and they would fall back into their normal routine, just like anytime they were separated from each other.

Bruce heard a car drive up and looked out the window and saw her get out. She looked even more beautiful than the last time he laid eyes on her. He knew then and there that he was definitely still in love with this woman, who probably didn't have a clue, since they broke up before he left.

"Miss Rocca, it's good to see you." Alfred greeted Charita warmly and embraced her.  
"It's good to see you too, Alfred. How ya been?" Charita equally warmly asked.

"Everything's good since Master Wayne is back." Then he whispered to her. "_he's been nervous about seeing you again._"

"He's not alone then." Then she spotted him, as he walked towards her and smiled. "Hey ya stranger. You've been gone along time."

"Yeah, I have. Wow, it's really good to see you." He hugged her tightly and they both felt immediately at ease. Bruce noticed the little boy and broke the embrace. "Ah and here is the someone you brought." Bruce kneel down and introduced himself to Nicholas. "I'm Bruce, what's your name little one?"

"My name is Nicholas Morasco." He held out his little hand for Bruce to shake it. "You must be Uncle Bruce, Mama's special friend."

"Ah special friend, I see." Bruce stood back up and looked at Charita.

"Yes, Bruce and Alfred this is my son, Nicholas and Bruce's godson." Charita explained. "He's seen pictures of you and I told him that you were his godfather. So he calls you Uncle Bruce, like he calls his godmother, Aunt Trini."

Sensing that Bruce and Charita needed privacy, Alfred excused himself and went to finish preparing dinner. Nicholas volunteered to go with Alfred and his mother said yes. Bruce and Charita stared at each other for a long minute before Bruce broke the silence.

"I'm so sorry that I left you without an explanation and that I couldn't keep in touch with you to let you know that I was ok. It was a cowardly thing to do and I'm really sorry because I never meant to hurt you in anyway, especially since you are my best friend." Bruce said softly. He couldn't read her but he saw that her eyes were watering up and reached for a tissue.  
"Thanks." Charita said accepting the tissue. She knew that eventually they would have to discuss his leaving but she didn't expect it to be so soon.

Bruce led her to the study, where they could talk in private.

"Bruce, I believe in my heart that there is a reason why you left so abruptly and a lot of things have changed since you left all those years ago. I've been married, now divorced, and I have a son."

"I know and I know that you got married and started a family. Alfred filled me in. I'm sorry I missed so much. You've grown up so much." Bruce apologized again.

"It's ok, I forgive you. Life is too short to hold on to grudges and you're my best friend so that will never change." Charita assured Bruce with a smile.

So, the two best friends caught up with one another, with Bruce explaining the full story about what went down with meeting with Falcone, his decision and reason why he left, his life traveling and doing odd jobs on the cargo ship, his criminal life and short stint in the Bhutanese prison, and his extensive training in being a Ninja. (He didn't mention the League of Shadows, Ra's al Ghul, or Henri Ducard…although; he would eventually learn that they were connected to Charita, as well.)

Then Alfred let them know that dinner was ready and they proceeded in the dinning room to a delicious spread of pot roast, potatoes, vegetable medley, and wild rice. Charita told Bruce and Alfred about finishing Columbia and getting married and having the baby. Adjusting to adulthood while finishing law school and why she chose to move to Gotham and about her divorce. She also shared with them that she shares custody of her son and his dad lives in Washington DC.

After dinner was over, Charita insisted on helping Alfred with the dishes but Alfred stated that he's just going to load the dishwasher and then spend the rest of the time relaxing. Bruce and Charita went to Bruce's bedroom to talk more. When they arrived up there, they stood staring at each other for a moment before falling into each other's arms and where Charita cried again.

"Bruce, you have no idea, how much I missed you. Especially, when the paper came out that you were dead."

"I still wonder how Earle was legally able to declare me dead?

"She moved to sit on the loveseat that was seated by the window in the master bedroom suite. Bruce was still standing and staring intently at Charita before he went to join her on the sofa."

"I don't think he had that authority. It's usually the closest relative or whatever is stated in your will; so technically, only Alfred had the authority to declare you dead and only Earle would be able to do so with Alfred's permission. If Earle did so without Alfred's permission, then someone has some explaining to do. He's not even allowed to take the company public without your say so." Charita explained in more detail what Bruce could do to look into what was happening at Wayne Enterprises and his position of authority.

"I told Earle that I wasn't going to interfere but if he's been running my father's company contrary to what my father would have wanted, I may need to do something."

"Has the company gone public yet?"

"Not yet. At least I don't think yet." Bruce asked, worried if he made a mistake in telling Earle that he wasn't going to interfere.

"Well, I'll ask my boyfriend who is a corporate attorney, about this."

"Your boyfriend?"

"Yeah, I've been seeing this guy named Antonio for about year and some change. He's a great guy and Nicholas adores him. More importantly Tony likes him too. Don't want any baby daddy drama" she explained laughing.

"Well, I'm looking forward to meeting him and I too adore Nicholas."

"Well that's a good thing because he's your godson."

Early Monday morning, Bruce alarm went off at 6:30am, effectively awaking Bruce and Charita up. They were still in their clothes from the night before, with Bruce hold Charita from behind.

"Good morning, beautiful." Bruce greeted his companion.

"Good morning yourself." She smiled and reached for the clock and noticed that it was 6:32am, then jumped up in a panic. "Oh no, no, no I got a 8:00 meeting with my boss." She swiftly raced to put her shoes on, while Bruce got up. She was done putting on her shoes before Bruce walked to the door to walk her down. "I'm sorry I have to leave so suddenly but I can't be late for this meeting." She stopped, turned, looking for where Nicholas could be."

"Master Wayne, Ms. Rocca." They turned to see Alfred walking out of the hall that lead to the kitchen holding Nicholas hand, who had a huge grin on his face. "I took the liberty last night of putting Master Nicholas to bed. When Master Wayne said you were sound asleep. He's a charming young fellow. We had fun, didn't we Master Nicholas?" Alfred asked the young boy.  
"Yes, Mr. Alfred" Nick gave Alfred a hug and went to his mother.

"Thank you Alfred, good to see you again." Charita hugged Alfred.

"Don't be a stranger."

"I promise and Nicholas does too."

"What are you doing tonight?" Bruce asked.

"I'm not sure. Can you call me around 12 and I'll let you know?"

"Sure, I have to go to Wayne Enterprises today. Make my presence known; that type of thing."

"Oh wow…making thy presence known at work. Well, since you'll be in that area, maybe we can have lunch?" Charita suggested.

"Ok. I give you a call around noon." Bruce said, giving Charita a kiss on the cheek.

"Ok"

"Be careful on the road."

"I will"

"Nice to meet you Nicholas. I'll see we're see you again soon as well. Ok"

"Ok uncle Bruce." Nick gave Bruce a hug. He liked his godfather and Alfred and hoped that Mama would visit often.

"Ok son, lets go home and get ready" Charita said rushing to her car with Nick.

With that, both Charita and Bruce hurried to get ready for the day. Charita with her meeting with her boss and Bruce making an appearance at Wayne Enterprises; both unconsciously smiling thinking about the night of catching up after 7 long years of being apart from each other; it was like they never separated.

Noon came and as promised Bruce called Charita to see if they could meet for lunch. Her boss, District Attorney Carl Finch to see if she could go to lunch early and agreed to let Charita for the rest of the day; Bruce and Charita met at her condo and Rae dropped her stuff in her condo and hopped into Bruce's Lamborghini and they took off. Bruce explained what happened that day at Wayne Enterprises and his plan was.

At lunch, Bruce and Charita talked more about their lives and no one knew Bruce better except Charita and Alfred. They sat in the restaurant talking for so long; they didn't realize that 6 hours had gone by. The patrons didn't mind since it was Bruce Wayne back from the dead, so they welcomed the Billionaire and his lady companion in their establishment.

They talked more about Nicholas and talked about Charita's marriage to Nick's father, Anthony Morasco.

"I know this is weird but I seriously thought that I would marry Ares but things happen for a reason, ya know."

"Well, at least he understood, right?" Bruce asked, very concerned.

Charita shifted in her seat and rubbed her finger around the rim of the water wine glass in front of her. "Yeah, he was great about it."

"ok, tell me about Antonio?"

"After my divorce from Tony was final, I met Antonio at this charity gala and we hit it off.

"I got the job in the DA's office as an ADA to stop what happened to us as kids, not happen to another child. Falcone needed to be stopped and I couldn't find the identity of the man that I was looking for when I was undercover but I thought I could at least make up for that by helping Gotham restore itself and be brave enough to prosecute Falcone. So far, not such luck; especially since Judge Faden keeps allowing Falcone's men to be sent to Arkham instead of jail. Faden is in Falcone's pocket anyway, always has been."

"Falcone will be stopped Charita and I'm not going to let anything or anyone hurt you." Bruce assured Charita.

"Ok." She smiled back at Bruce

"Why don't we go back to Gotham?"

"Good plan."

During the next few weeks, Bruce was busy preparing his Batman arsenal. He had already placed bugs in different places throughout Gotham to monitor the different situations, especially those concerning Falcone. His main concern was also Charita when it came to Falcone because Charita was prosecuting against his various henchmen. In his undercover work, he learned that Falcone put a hit out on Charita. With Mr. Fox help at Wayne Enterprises, Batman came to life in more ways than one and successfully took Falcone down and saved his best friend's life in the process.

Charita meanwhile was dealing with a rough patch. She needed to find another place to leave within the next 6 months since she found out that her condo was being sold and turned into a hotel skyscraper. Antonio asked her to move in with him but she turned him down. I adored Antonio but even after a year, she wasn't at the point where she was in love with him. She was meeting with him to talk because he left a message on her voicemail stating the dreaded "we need to talk", which was of course code for "I want to break up with you." He must have sense something different with Charita because he started asking question about her relationship with Tony but also her relationship with Bruce. She explained that she had an amicable relationship with Tony and he was one of her closest friends, as well as co-parents to Nick. With Bruce, she explained that Bruce had been her best friend since they were little, despite the fact that he was 2 years older than she was. Antonio believed that there was something more between Bruce and Charita. As a man, he noticed that Bruce looked at Charita in a way that he never looked at his dates, despite being labeled as this international playboy. He was sure that Bruce was in love with Charita and he was also sure that Charita was in love with Bruce. Their bond was too close and unbreakable but it borderline more romantic than friendship. He just needed for Charita to admit that she wanted to be with Bruce and stop wasting his time. The very questions he would ask, was the same questions that Charita keep asking herself. _Do I love Bruce more than a friend? Can I see myself married to him and growing old with him? Could the international playboy be tamed? _One of the main reasons why they broke up as boyfriend and girlfriend when she was a teenager was because of his playboy mentality. Now she was questioning whether he grew up on his seven year journey to make a commitment if that is what he wanted with her.

Antonio and Charita drove to Atlantic City and checked into the Water Club. Charita didn't know that Antonio didn't bring his overnight bag in with him. He kept it in his trunk foreseeing the way the night would go. If Charita decides that she loves him and wanted to be with him, he was going to ask her to marry him. If not, then he would go back to Gotham on his own and call Bruce to come to Atlantic City to be with Charita. They dined at this fine dining establishment called Fornelletto. While, they feast on a 4 course Italian meal, they chat about Nicholas and about what the appearance of Batman meant for the citizens of Gotham. Charita thought it gave the people hope but Antonio while admiring Batman felt that it may cause more harm than good. Into the 3rd course, Charita asked Antonio why he left the message on her voicemail stating that he needed to talk. Antonio took a deep breath, looked around, and started:

"Charita, we've been together for over a year, correct?"

"Yes." Charita answered, wondering where he was going.

"Since, Bruce been back in Gotham, I've noticed something different in you."

"What do you mean?" Charita was confused but knew where he was going.

"You don't look at me, the way you look at him."

"He's my best friend Antonio, that's all. Nothing more or less."

"And yet you're in love with him." It was not longer a question, it was a statement. Antonio realized that more than ever that his girlfriend loved another man. "Not trying to put you on the spot, but just trying to see if my time is being wasted on this relationship."

"Why did you bring me here to ask that question? We could have discussed this in Gotham, yes?" Charita pondered what Antonio was doing. Why did he bring her to Atlantic City to discuss her relationship with Bruce?

"A part of me was hoping to ask you to marry me tonight. A part of me wanted to finally hear from you that you wanted me forever at your side as your husband." He reached for her hand. "Charita, you don't love me. At least not the way you love Bruce and believe me when I say, dude loves you too."

"Did Bruce say something to you to that affect?" Charita wondered.

"Yes and no. But men have this special radar if you will, plus he didn't need to say anything, he looks at you the way I look at you. I'm surprised that you two didn't hook up before now."

"Actually, we did date when I was in high school and even after we broke up we were just friends with benefits."

"So the intimacy was always there. Basically the full package; but it's time for me to stop being the romantic false lead in this story. It's not fair to me, you, or Bruce."

"I'm sorry, I ruined our relationship." Charita was now crying softly

"Don't be, just be honest with yourself and then with him. Are you in love with Bruce?"

Charita thought about it for a moment but maybe she was tired of hiding her feelings. "Yes, I'm in love with him; always have been." She finally confessed her feelings out in the open to herself. Was it time to admit to Bruce or what for him to make the move?

"Then go be happy Charita."

Antonio and Charita bid each other goodbye and Antonio went back to Gotham. When he realized that there was technically nothing keeping him there, he decided to move back to Pennsylvania to be near his family.

Charita went back to the hotel room and cried for hurting Antonio but she was also glad that she admitted what she wanted now. She wanted to be with Bruce Wayne forever, as his wife, lover, mother of his kids, grow old with him; she wanted to be everything with him that she couldn't be with Tony, Ares, and Antonio. As Jason (her high school boyfriend) was her first love, Bruce was definitely her true love. She walked around the spacious room and pulled out her pajamas and got ready for bed. Then it occurred to her that she was stranded in Atlantic City, since Antonio was her ride up there. She wanted to call Bruce or her brother Zack to pick her up in the morning. She reached for her phone when she heard a knock at the door and went to see who it could be.

"Who is it?" she asked

"It's Bruce"

"Bruce?" she asked incredulously and opened the door, where he was in a 3 piece suit but had an overnight bag with him.

"Well, I had a date but heard that someone very important to me needed me. Antonio called and told me what happened."

As shocked as Charita was, she was glad that he was there and fell into his arms. "Thanks for coming."

"Anytime, now can I come in or we're going to stand in the hall?" Bruce laughed letting Charita go.

She joined him in laughing "Sure, come in"

Bruce closed the door behind him and checked out the spacious space. "Wow, this is a huge room and that is a nice king size bed that looks very comfy." He put his bag on the bed, took off his blazer and vest, unloosen his tie, kicked off his shoes and dived on the bed. "Ahhhhhhhhh, come join me Rocca."

Charita couldn't help be tickled and joined him on the massive bed. "This is comfy."

"Yep"

"So, who did you have a date with this time?" asked Charita

"A model for La Perla." Brue had his eyes closed but enjoyed the closeness of having Charita next to him.

"Nice."

Bruce jumped up off the bed. "So lets order room service, shall we?" he asked reaching for the menu. "Wow, I forgot how expensive room service was but I'm starve; what would you like?"

Charita jumped up to look at the menu with Bruce "I could go for a pizza, I didn't have much to eat at dinner."

"Alright, pizza it is." Smiled Bruce.

So room service brought up a whole pepperoni pizza up along with a bottle of Dom Perignon and in quick succession, the 2 friends eat the pizza and drank while talking and laughing and having the time of their lives.


End file.
